celebrations of the life of nelson mandela continue. people around the world will say their final goodbyes coming up on december 15. thanks for joining us. i'm mike hyadek. the date was announced this morning and sunday will be a national day of prayer and reflection in honor of mandela. teara merginer has more on the flood of condolences. >> reporter: the flag is at half staff at the south african embassy in washington. outside his home in johannesburg, mourners of all races are coming together to mourn the man they call mandiba. a memorial service will be held next tuesday and the outpouring of love says something about the caliber of a man who led the country out of apartheid.

>> we'll always love mandiba for teaching us it's possible, to overcome hatred and anger in order to build a new nation. >> reporter: messages of tribute are pouring in from around the world, from the dali llama in india. >>. >> sadness translates into determination. we must do so his spirit continues. >> reporter: pope francis applauded mandela for promoting human dignitiy and forging a new south africa. and at the white house, president obama spoke about the man who inspired his first step into politics. >> like so many around the globe, i cannot live my own life without the example mandela set. >> reporter: he will join other leaders in south africa for the funeral set for december 15.

cbs news, washington. >> now, here at home, mourners continue to pay their respects at the south african embassy near the new mandela statue on massachusetts avenue. this morning, more and more people were stopping by to place flowers at the base of the new statue. saray chance spent the morning at the embassy. >> reporter: construction workers have removed fencing that was preventing people from getting close to nelson mandela's statue. now, they can get up close, lay flowers and pay their respects. >> a sad day but what a gait man and a great life. >> reporter: they came to reflect, give respect, and for terry derase to drop a single red rose at his statue. >> my son said it was the wrong color because i had white roses too, and he said it meant love, and i said, well, that's nelson mandela. >> reporter: nelson mandela became the first black president of the country that imprisoned him for 27 years because he wanted to end

apartheid. >> i'm just so happy i'm able to be part of the first generation that can be free from apartheid. i was so happy to visit a free south africa and not one that was oppressed by racism. >> reporter: during his incarceration, mandela inspired people to hold daily protests at the south african embassy in washington. >> mr. mandela has had global action. you cannot be shocked and cannot be sad. >> reporter: south african ambassador to the us received the news from zinzi, mandela's daughter. >> she knows how important the united states is to the mandela family and south africa, because it was here that so much happened where people marched for our freedom, were arrested for our freedom, and that is why that statue is there. >> his ideas will live on and never die. >> reporter: people are meeting inside the embassy planning on events in the district to pay a property

tribute to nelson mandela. at the south africa embassy, saray, wusa 9. >> if the national cathedral agrees there will be a memorial service there on wednesday. the condolence book is going to be open to the public daily, and there will also be nightly vigils from 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the embassy. >> in the audience, it was electrifying. people were cheering, just about every word that he said about his experience, and the way in which there was that parallel between the south african situation and the american situation. >> the night before thanksgiving when randal robinson and mary francis buried congresswoman foltroy told the south african ambassador that they weren't leaving until all the prisoners were freed, including nelson mandela, and enacted a new

democratic constitution allowing everyone to vote, we really had no idea so many people around this country were ready to jn us and to say enough. >> mandela's legacy is to tell us that we all are capable of greatness if we will understand that it is up to us to make those changes in our lives. >> and he helped a lot of people around the world change their lives. the former south african president touched lives in dc as well, not just around the world, outside the united states. the mourning period is under way for nelson mandela. sunday is the national day of prayer and reflection. tuesday, the 10th is the official memorial service in johannesburg. he will lie in state on the 10th through 12th. the 15th is the funeral held in his home town of kumu. our coverage of the death of nelson mandela continues on our website wusa9.com. there you can see some of his memorable quotes, and there were many. there's also reaction from

around the world and a place that you can submit your own photos and videos of the late leader, if you also have encountered him. this is a yellow alert day. here's wusa 9's first alert weather. >> wow, okay, we started the morning show at, okay, i thought we were going to erica right there. texas, arkansas, oklahoma and other mid-southern states are being slammed by a storm. it's brought sleet, rain, ice. cars are slipping off the road. many of the affected areas are dealing with power outages because of all the freezing ice on power lines. and that storm is wreaking havoc on travel all around the united states right now. here at home in dc, we are under a yellow alert because some of that is coming this way. >> well, what we have is the initial front of this very, very large storm system. it's very complicated, but the first frontal boundary is

moving through the dc metro right now. that's going to set the stage for that colder air, and if you drove into work and headed out for lunch or about to, you will feel the change. here's a one-hour doppler radar loop for you so you can see how this storm is progressing. we have the heavy rain moving through the beltway right now. you can see it outlined in the yellows and oranges. and just within the past five minutes, i saw some lightning strikes there on our radar and you can see them in the live view as well. these yellow ones are bolts that happened within the past 10 minutes, and you can see that swath of the reds and oranges all along i-95 between dc and baltimore, a very rough ride for you here. if you have to head out. if you don't have to head out till the afternoon but you were hoping to get a jump start, i would recommend waiting until the afternoon to get this initial pocket of rain out of the way. you can see that heavier swath there in laurel and almi,

silver spring. most of northeast dc being affected by that as well, and then the lightning strikes down here in stafford county and also in the city of fredricksburg. what about the next storm system, the one that could bring us wintry weather on sunday? i'll talk about that in the first alert seven-day forecast. mike, back to you. >> thanks, eric. it's going to take a lot more rain or possible snow to stop the national christmas tree lighting ceremony. chestnuts roasting on an open fire . wow, very nice. that was janelle mohay rehearsing for this evening's ceremony. jane lynch is the host. jazz trumpeter oturo sandoval is one of the many great acts performing. >> this is a big deal, not only

for washington but -the whole nation, you know, because i think a lot of people are going to be paying attention today because it's a wonderful event, and it's my honor to be part of the show. >> it's going to be a great show. rain, shine, snow, sleet, they don't care. the rehearsals continued throughout this morning setting the stage for other star- studded acts that included arethra franklin, mariah carrey and train. an officer excused of child pornography was supposed to be released on bond. why the judge had ñzçzçzç m.

welcome back. a dc police officer accused in a choog child pornography case is going to have to stay behind bars longer. a judge in the case yesterday stayed the release, in order to give the prosecutors a chance to appeal. washington is accused of coercing a 15-year-old runaway

to submit to sexually explicit photographs. he allegedly told that girl the pictures would help identify her if she ever left home again. the cause of the fire at the laurel asphalt plant is still not known at this point. the fire broke out around 10:30 last night. prince georges fire officials say two large bins with diesel fuel and asphalt material were part of the fire. hazardous material personnel were called in to control the run-off. it took 52 firefighters and those hazmat workers to contain the fire and hazardous material. fortunately, no one was hurt in this. it's official. minimum wage is on the way up in mtgomery county. the law was made yesterday. under the plan, the minimum wage will increase $1 for every year until it gets to 11.50, and that comes in 2017. prince georges county has already approved a similar plan earlier in the week. the dc council passed a preliminary bill on the very same issue. speaking of money, it is

not too late to give yourself a break when it comes to your 2013 taxes. we're going to explain some steps you can take, coming up next, erica. >> it is raining out here right now, mike, but by the end of sunday, we could have some snow or slush on the ground. i'llell you why, coming up in the first alert seven-day forecast.

welcome back. besides celebrating the holidays, it's also a very good time to start looking at your

finances. tax time is going to be here before you know it, so that's why sandra black from personal finance is here to tell us some steps you can take to make sure you're not going to get really pummelled when it comes to your 2013 taxes. thanks for coming in. are there things you can do right now with your withhold sng is that one of the things that you can manipulate this late in the year? >> what you can do is increase the amount of money taken from your pay check and put into your had 401k. you can ask some of it to come out into your 401k. it increases your retirement savings, which everyone needs to do, and second, that money won't be taxed, so that means you'll have less money taxed when you buy your taxes next year. so there's still time to do that. >> are there limits on the amount you can do that on? you can't just put your whole pay check on. >> no, if you're under 50, you can put up to 17,500 in 401k

this year. if you're 50 or over, you can put 23,000. so most of us have a lot more room to go. >> and chances are you're not writing a 23,000 check at the end of the year. >> you can't do that anyway. it has to come out of your pay check. you need to talk to your human resources department to put it into your 401k. is there a cut off? december 31st? >> you can make them right up until the end of the year. i tell people, if you use a credit card to make your charitable contributions, and most big charities are happy to accept credit. even if you've paid off the credit card by december 31, it still counts as a contribution for 2013. if you're in a hurry, you have money coming in in january, you can charge your charitable contributions by december 31st. that's a deductible expense for 2013. >> when you and i were talking on the break, one of the things

i learned brand new, for those few people that get bonuses these days, there's a way to make sure you don't get taxed significantly on that. >> some employees will allow to you direct your bonus into your 401k. let's assume you have it maxed out on your 401k, and you probably haven't, you can just have that bonus deposited directly into your 401k. talk to your employer if you're lucky enough to get a bonus and ask them if they'll do that. >> nice, thanks, and great to see you. you can see there's still tons of clouds in place, and we do have rain showers moving through the dc metro right now. temperatures continuing to drop. we'll be at 49 degrees by 3:00 p.m., at 6:00, and 44 by 9:00 p.m. if that sounds a lot colder than what you woke up to, you're right. we woke up to temperatures in the 60s, and now it's already 45 in leesburg and frederick.

41 in win chester, 48 in culpepper. you can really see that strong cold front is moving on through. the heaviest rain is still waiting in the wings toward lexington, kentucky and charleston, west virginia. this will slowly push our way. the blue, the snow and the pink icy areas are not going to be part of our forecast today or tonight. that's with the next storm system that arrives on sunday. 9 future cast showing that as you're picking the kids up off the bus, still plenty of rain throughout the belt way. heavy rain fell and maybe even a few rumbles of thunder at about 7:00 p.m. as you're sitting down for denver. toward win chester, we might have some rumbles of thunder and heavy pockets of rain in the dc metro areas. as you continue to get your forecast from topper tonight, more of the rain moving through the belt way, with the oranges and yellows indicating the potential for heavier rain. you can see that snow and that ice and see how it just misses

us to the north. we'll return to the sunshine on saturday, but the cold air is really going to be locked in. when that next storm system makes its way toward us, we will feel it. so a blustery day on saturday, strong winds out of the northeast, and that will lock in the cold air against the appalachians. our next storm system arrives, runs into that cold air, and we start out as snow with a little bit of sleet, possibly some freezing rain as well, and it will be a messy day on sunday. but today, your high temperatures in the afternoon, in the mid-40s, west of the beltway, right around 50 degrees in dc and staying in the upper 40s in southern maryland. overnight tonight, most of us stay above freezing but dropping into the 30s. so 36 for your low in leesburg and manassas. 34 in gaithersburg. saturday, returning to green with the sunshine. breezy conditions and a high of 46. this is critical. we're going to dip down to 30

overnight saturday into sunday morning. then that storm system arrives, slushy accumulations are likely in the beltway. a high of 33 degrees. that's it, so not a lot of melting going on here either. and it is a red alert day because of that potential for dangerous travel conditions. and the first alert seven-day forecast, temperatures rebounding on monday back near 50, still looking at the rain, then dry and cool through the middle of the work week. stay with us, we'll be right back. we're taking a trip to the zçzçtó

welcome back. we have a guy who calls himself, let me get this right, a self proclaimed evangelist, a dairy evangelist. one of my new good friends,

warren taylor, good to see you. we've been chatting throughout the morning as i've been learning about your product and the difference in dairy that you like to bring to the world. it's an education, you were saying. snowville creamery is what we're talking about. but what is, help me pronounce it. >> cream fresh. we actually stayn and say which sour cream, just to give an idea, you know, the best way to understand cream fresh is to think about it in terms of dairy products you know. so you've got some sour cream over there. sour cream on the far left. that's a 20 percent product. whipping cream is 40 percent. >> the big one, right. >> butter is 80 percent fat. and we're going to talk today about how your new favorite holiday. >> i'm going to try it. >> oh, go ahead. >> it says sour cream, okay. it is very rich. but that's not -- everybody's scared of getting fat. is that going to be a problem?

>> i believe that this is the most nutritious fat that you can put in your body. this is from grass fed dairy cows. look at that color. >> and your argument is, what, i have all these things in my refrigerator. why should i buy this instead? >> just have this instead of all of those. >> what am i going to use it for. >> what's the most basic thing you can possibly do with butter?. >> put it on bred. >> spread it out bread. look at how easy that spreads. and since it's cultured, it has all kinds of great flavor. >> we have one minute so we're going to crank. >> you bet. saute. it doesn't smoke, it doesn't brown. you saute your steak and when you're done, dress it up with a spoonful. fish, here we've done onions. >> and sauteed mushrooms as well. >> chili, really? >> sour cream on the chili. >> a potato.

>> soup, yams, anything you'd use butter for or sour cream. when you're looking for the flavor of buttermilk, use the flavor of cream fresh. >> we're just about out of time. taste it one more time. it's at whole foods, right? >> yes. >> we're done here. see you back here on wusa 9. take care, everybody.

>> avery: [ panting ] [ sniffs ] >> nick: whoa! >> avery: ooh! i'm so sor-- [ exhales deeply ] h-hi. >> nick: hey. >> avery: we -- we got to stop meeting like this. >> nick: yeah, sorry. did i, uh, step on your foot or anything? >> avery: were you trying to? >> nick: well, i guess if i'd actually known it was you, maybe i would have stomped on your toes a little bit. >> avery: i'm fine. what about you? and i don't mean crashing into each other. i mean, how are you, really? >> nick: how am i really really? >> avery: well, the last time i saw you was at the club when nikki told everyone -- >> nick: yeah, uh, let'